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First lets understand I'm not offering (excuses) nor am I going to attempt to argue about the SEC's performance which needs no help from me. I'm just going to say why (I) think Mizzou was able to win the EAST.

~1st were talking about the SEC (East). Hardly a rep of the SEC(as a whole) Considering the East hasn't produced a NC Contender in the BCS era since Tebow Mania, and before that back 8 years to Tenn. 98'. The East has been weak for a long while now.

Mizzou is in the SEC East/

Secondly take a look at who Mizzou did not play this year.
They didn't play LSU, Bama or Auburn. That's the Top 3 in the East and have been for a long time now.
A Loss to any one of those teams and South Carolina is headed to ATL instead.

Who did Mizzou beat. Stay with me here. I'm not making excuses, just providing info you may not know.
Just like the games Bama and LSU play after playing each other(Trap Games),
UGA never recovered from the LSU Game.(Actually not until recently). They lost Gurley and 4 other starters to injury. Those players did not play against the Vols and it showed. They also didn't play against Mizzou and it showed there as well. UGA Fans were cursing the LSU Tigers and saying they'd have rather lost to LSU then now face multiple losses b/c of the injuries received during that game.

In short, Mizzou did not play a healthy UGA Team. Not an excuse, just a fact that they were banged up and missing key starters. We can't act like losing play makers on a team doesn't impact that teams performance. Surely you'd agree.

~~The win over Florida. The Gators are playing their worst football since 1979. Need I say more?

So those two wins over those two Eastern Division Teams is what propelled Mizzou to be where they needed to be in the SEC East Division.

~Then they only needed to beat one of the worst defensive teams in College football,
that just got whipped by LSU and then had to travel to Missouri,
to secure their Spot in the East, which they did.
(And I was surprised by that actually) Close game still.

Now,
this Mizzou team(from the Big 12, not a conference I'd consider chumps)
has been up and coming in the last several years. They won the Big 12 North in 07', 08' and 10' before joining the SEC. They weren't a power house, but I'd have picked them over most Big 10 Teams easily. They won plenty of games against some of the Big 12's Top Teams but of course not in regular fashion. Still they were a pretty good football team over there and benefited recruiting wise from the Big 12 pool.

~~~
So considering the down fall of the Gators Program (this year), -lost 14 starters since season began-
beating up, a already beat up UGA,
and not playing against LSU, Bama or Auburn(Top 3 in the West) in the regular season,
THAT is how Mizzou found themselves the leader of the SEC Weak, I mean East.
~~~

Plus like I said, they're a good team that has been on the up and up in recent years. They are still a good team that has shown they can be right there to win it if the opportunity presents itself and they did just that.

They didn't squeeze their way in, they didn't cheat, I'm not saying any of that.
They won it fair and square.

I'm just saying, that we should be aware of how it happen. Had they played Bama, LSU or Auburn this season and lost just one of those 3 games, USCe would be East Champs and we wouldn't even be talking about this.

That's all I got.

That's a really good analysis , quite similar to what I would do if I followed the game as closely as you SEC folks. I would add that MO's coach picked up a lot of his coaching chops in the PAC12. Injuries can be a real drag as can back to back really tough opponents.

From the outside I have high hopes for the PAC12 coaching staff in general & their ability to recruit. It will be interesting to see how Bishop Sankley does on Sunday afternoons, I do know the Seahawks (present leaders of the NFL, at least until tomorrow night) have many PAC12 players on their playing squad. IMO - when you get past Saban & Spurrier your coaching is not on a par with what we have on the coast - CO & CA excepted.

Like the dog sports, the top pro's rotate on the basis of what they have on their truck - As we said in the mining business "Good Ore indicates Good Operators" - The SEC string will shortly end, that was a real coaching breakdown on the part of Saban's staff. Winning too much creates complacency!!!!!!!

that was a real coaching breakdown on the part of Saban's staff. Winning too much creates complacency!!!!!!!

Well I don't know about the rest of your post ... But this much we can agree on.

Saban, was out-coached and Bama was out-played last night. No if's and's or but's about it.

I also think something happen that we act like could not. Pressure. Bama players including McCarron were under a lot of PRESSURE. Like Saban said, "A special kind of pressure".

What kind of pressure? 'Obsession'
Have you seen these two teams fans go at it? It's rabid. (no offense to our Bama fans here, but they kow what I'm talking about) Them jokers were camping out this WHOLE WEEK just for this game.

Even the Bama players took to twitter saying, "Were only Human", "Give us a break" and the kicker was once again being spammed with death threats. As well as the Ref who called the Off Sides penalty.

I think we underestimated just how much pressure was on these Bama players from the OUTSIDE. Not just from Saban, who seems to have really tuned it down in recent years.

That's too much for these kids to handle IMO.
Not saying that's why they lost ok, just saying it seems a little ridiculous.

~Could not stop the run. Saban knew what they were going to do, Gus knew they knew,
and Auburn did it anyway. Saban never adjusted. His players continued to get sucked past the pocket and get gashed.
~Passed on a chip shot FG. Would have made it a two possession game.
~Attempting a 57 yard FG instead of a Hail Mary with Mccarron?
Gus said he purposely put faster people on the field in case there was a return option.
Saban did not. "They had all fat people" - Gary Danielson lol

This doesn't mean anything bad about Saban,
but to say that he did everything right? or more right than Gus last night?
I don't know man. Seems like a stretch.

I simply did not see how a team with no sort of passing identity/ability would ever be able to beat Alabama. Still don't, unless there was some sort of coaching break down along with missed FG opportunities.

There's certainly more of a discussion about it now,
and I am among those who believe that the Auburn Tigers have built enough of a case to move ahead of the Buckeyes,
if both win their conference championship games next week. - Travis Haney ESPN INsider http://espn.go.com/ncf/notebook/_/pa...al1201/week-14